Academic Resources & Planning

General Education Curriculum (GPAC)

Let’s get GPAC’d!

The GPAC Committee is charged with reviewing new GPAC proposal requests. Proposal requests are assigned to committee members for their review, feedback, and when needed, requests for revisions prior to being GPAC- approved.

If you are a GW faculty member and would like to submit a course for GPAC review, please follow all of the directions on the GPAC Checklist Form. This form can be filled out directly online, with space to upload all course materials, and a button to submit at the end of the form. Once submitted, the course will be reviewed by the GPAC Committee. Submittal deadlines are November 15th for the fall semester and March 15th for the spring semester. Please allow three weeks for the committee to review your course; after that time, you will receive feedback from a committee member.

Note: For courses approved in the fall: GPAC designation will become effective the following fall. For courses approved in the spring: GPAC designation will become effective the following spring.

*The GPAC Committee offers open office hours twice a year to provide feedback on proposals and assessments.

Periodic table drawn in chalk on sidewalk

Office of Academic Planning and Assessment

The Office of Academic Planning and Assessment was created in 2008 to meet the University’s growing needs for institutional data, analysis, and assessment. It includes the Office of Assessment, Office of Institutional Research and Planning, Office of Survey Research and Analysis; the Office of the Academic Editor was added in 2013. The office is headed by Cheryl Beil, Senior Associate Provost.

Mission

The Office of Academic Planning and Assessment's mission is to:

Create, collect, analyze, and interpret data and other relevant information about GW's students, faculty, and staff;
Transform and contextualize data, analysis, and interpretations into usable information for planning, evaluation, and decision making;
Manage and facilitate the campus learning outcomes assessment process to improve teaching and learning; and
Serves as the University's liaison with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Oversees the publication of the University Bulletin and has final approval of all program and course proposals and changes to the content of the Bulletin.

CourseLeaf

CourseLeaf is an online platform, managed by the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment (OAPA), that is used for course and program approvals and bulletin management. All new and changed course and program proposals must be approved by the program/department and school or college dean, academic editor and Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment.

New course proposals or proposed changes
- Course Inventory Management User Guide

New program proposals or proposed change
- Program Management User Guide

All course proposals must be at the Undergraduate Dean level in CourseLeaf by March 5th to be included in next year's Bulletin.

All major or minor proposals must be in CourseLeaf by March 5th. To meet this deadline, they must be submitted to the Undergraduate Dean's Office ahead of time so they can be vetted by the Undergraduate Studies Committee and the Dean's Office.

Retroactive approvals will not be granted
New approvals or revisions cannot be publicized until approved

For further information on program and course approvals, please contact:

Gina Harris at gharris@gwu.edu, 202-994-6310

For information on CourseLeaf and how to obtain access, please contact:

bulletin@gwu.edu

Program Assessment

Good teaching and student learning go hand-in-hand. It is through the assessment of student learning and achievement that GW is able to demonstrate that its students have accomplished educational goals consistent with their program of study, their degree level, and the institution’s mission, and has met the appropriate expectations of institutions of higher learning.

The process of assessment allows faculty to record progress in student learning, enabling them to communicate students’ successes and accomplishments to each other, their students, our alumni, and other important stakeholders.

DegreeMAP

DegreeMAP is an online advising and auditing system for degrees and certificates which will display the requirements for the student’s program of study and apply the student’s individual academic history to those requirements. DegreeMAP can include in-progress courses to show how currently-enrolled classes will apply to requirements. Students will also be able to visit their advisor to run "What If…" audits which apply their current academic history to a different set of degree or certificate requirements.

In December 2020, the Office of the Registrar went live with an updated version of DegreeMAP. The new version includes enhanced planning tools for students and advisors:

New mobile-friendly look and feel
Additional information in the Student Header Card including declared concentrations, graduation application status, prior degrees and certificates awarded, preferred name, preferred and partial name searches for advisors, a confidentiality flag, and academic standing status.
New report format and views available include:
- An "historic" audit showing a snapshot at the point of graduation for students continuing into new programs,
- Class history now available to students
- Look ahead has now moved to the "what-if" report
- Registrar report shows advisors underlying coding for requirements (which is a great reference for "hidden" requirements such as attributes, non-course requirements, and course sharing)
- Toggle worksheet to include of exclude in-progress and/or pre-registered courses
Improved plan tools to work in consultation with advisors to map out timely completion requirements.
Direct links to DegreeMAP and University Bulletin Websites
DegreeMAP Training Video
- Helpful Timestamps in Training Video

Accessing DegreeMAP

DegreeMAP is accessed through the GWeb Information System:

Students: Student Records & Registration → Student Records Information Menu → DegreeMAP

Advisors: Faculty → DegreeMAP

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OSA Resources

How to create a Major, Minor, or an Interdisciplinary Minor

CCAS Undergraduate Studies Office

April 2021

I. Setting up the curriculum for a Major or Minor located within a Department or Interdisciplinary Major or Minor located across departments

· Majors are 32 - 80+ credits (this reflects disciplinary norms); Minors are 16 to 21 credits

· Curriculum can be built from courses in different departments, but require support and approval from all departments

· For interdisciplinary minor, 1-2 required courses that are central and create continuity and community. There could be several courses to choose from (i.e. two of three core courses)

· Include electives that allow different paths to complete the major or minor. Flexibility can give students more access (students go on study abroad and have other obligations)

· Consider events that bring students together (i.e. a conference or research day) as this creates community and sustainability

· For interdisciplinary majors and minors, there may be courses offered as electives in other schools but these cannot be required. The majority of courses must be CCAS. If you are including courses from other departments and programs please be sure you have worked with that program to understand whether there is space available in the courses, if it is a good fit and frequency of offerings.

· Take into account faculty sabbatical/leave/administrative appointments in terms of frequency of course offerings. Be sure to have alternatives electives and availability of alternative instructors for core courses.

· Consider interdisciplinary major models:

WGSS

Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience

Africana Studies

· Consider interdisciplinary minor models:

Judaic Studies

Africana Studies

WGSS

Law and Society

Linguistics

· Consider mico-minor (9 credits focused on a theme)

II. Administration of Major or Minor

· Have a faculty member who takes responsibility for advising, communication, and administration of major or minor

· Interdisciplinary majors or minors must be located in a department and chair must agree to minor’s administrative home

III. Timeline and Process

· Work backwards from the early March Bulletin deadline. Before this deadline, proposals must first go through a review in the Dean’s Office, and then subsequently be approved by the CCAS Undergraduate Studies Committee.

· Working towards the Bulletin deadline, take into account that all new proposals go through these two iterative processes: the goal is to be thoughtful and meaningful about curriculum; there is often back and forth and significant revision as part of this deliberative process.

· Changes to the university bulletin are due late February or early March. To make that deadline, the Undergraduate Studies Committee needs to have completed materials by early January at the latest, so they can have a discussion with the proposers mid-January, and a vote after possible revisions mid-February (although submissions early than that are of course encouraged for consideration the following year)

· Before getting the materials to the Undergraduate Studies Committee, there is typically a back-and-forth between the proposers and the dean's office, with feedback on content, resources, etc., and given the holiday season and final exams, the Undergraduate Dean's Office should have the initial materials no later than mid-November

· To get the materials to the Undergraduate Dean's Office, the faculty in a department will have to vote on the new program, which may take one or two department faculty meetings, so the internal department approval process should start in October.

IV. Required Documents (will be reviewed first by the Dean's Office and then the Undergraduate Studies Committee). Documents are required for both conversations.

Curricular map

Narrative proposal

Overview (2-3 paragraphs)
Foundational Courses (plus X total credits)
Capsule Descriptions of Course Requirements (2-3 sentences per course)
Learning Objectives for the Major/Minor (Bullet point list)
Justification for the Major:/Minor (2-3 paragraphs)
Prospective Students (2-3 paragraphs)
Program Outcomes (1-2 paragraphs)
It is helpful to understand the depth and scope of student interest:

- How many students? How have you made this estimate?

- How will the major or minor persist beyond initial enthusiasm and interest?

It is helpful to understand how core courses will be covered:

- Are there enough faculty to teach core courses?

V. Dean’s Office Resource Review

· What new courses will be offered (if any)?

· What new resources will be required (if any)?

· What is the timeline for the proposal, keeping in mind the approval process in CCAS and Bulletin deadlines (this deadline is typically in early March)

· What is the likely number of students interested in the program (and how the faculty estimate that number)?

· What is the pedagogical value of the program?

· Where is the program’s administrative home? Who will take administrative responsibility for the minor? Does the proposal have chair approval?

· Where are other programs offered? Local institutions? National institutions? Market basket?

What are the usual number of credits required for these programs? Is your proposal in line with national and local standards (this is most important for majors)?

VI. Undergraduate Studies Curricular Review

All new major/minor/micro-minor courses must be approved by the Undergraduate Studies Committee. This committee looks at the proposal in detail, meets with the proposers, and reviews the following areas:

· Hidden prerequisites because these could slow down a student's progress or make it difficult for them to finish.

· Frequency of core course offerings (this is important because students study abroad and/or have other requirements)

· How are WID courses built into/scaffolded in the curriculum?

· Can required courses be taught by more than one instructor?

· Are there enough spots in required and elective courses so students can get into these courses?

· Distribution and progression of higher-level skills and attributes as represented in curricular map, specifically "introduce," "develop”, and "attain mastery"

· Accurate representation of courses from other areas of the curriculum (for interdisciplinary proposals)

· Accurate choice of course level from other areas of the curriculum (for interdisciplinary proposals)

· Inclusion of GPAC courses in the major/minor

· How the program compares to other similar programs in terms of credit numbers & content?

· Take a look at Bloom’s taxonomy for different categories of learning outcomes